It's official, I've filled out all the forms

I got a job! I was offered the position of Family Recruitment Specialist with the Marriage for Keeps program a couple of weeks ago. Marriage for Keeps is a research program under the umbrella of Catholic Charities whose mission is to strengthen the relationships of married couples who have children. The hope is that if the marriage is stronger, the family will be stronger.

I'm really excited about this opportunity to do something totally different from anything I've ever done before. I have taken a pretty substantial pay cut, but I feel so fortunate to have found a job I anticipate I will love in this crazy economy. I will primarily be doing intake of the couples who commit to the 12-week program. It all became very real today when I went for a short orientation and then filled out all the paperwork that new employees have to fill out. I'd forgotten how many things there are to sign. Next week I'll be in training for four days, but after that I'll get keys to the building and start learning how to manage the intake process. For now at least, I'll share an office with Nikki that actually has windows! After 10 years of cubicle living with limited access to windows that faced outside, that's a real bonus in my book.

Whirlwind OKC trip

This past Saturday my sister Teresa, niece Katie and I went to Oklahoma City to visit my nephew Christopher and go see "Rocky Horror Show" at the Lyric Theatre. Christopher was the costume master for the show and out of all the variations of the show I've ever seen, these costumes were the best. I even knew some of the cast members, so that always makes it more fun.

Before the show, we went out for lunch with Christopher at Iguana Mexican Grill. Excellent food. We got the queso and it was served in this dish shaped like Oklahoma.

Also, the salsa was to die for. Seriously the tastiest I've ever had. I snapped this picture of Katie and Christopher before we left the restaurant. Aren't they cute?

Aside from a choking incident by the driver (me) on the way back to Wichita that night, the day was fantastic.

I won!

Yesterday the Altar Society at my church had their biggest fundraiser of the year, Quilt Bingo. There were 20 quilts that people won (not me) by playing bingo. I never get any good bingo cards. Ever. But there was also this beautiful queen size quilt in blues, yellows and neutrals that was given away in a raffle. This year I only bought $5 in tickets because of the whole jobless thing and I won the raffle quilt! I couldn't believe it. I was helping to sell bingo cards and was outside in the hallway at my station when they called my name. I got several high-fives on my way through the room.

I think this means my luck is changing for the better. A job is just around the corner, I can feel it.

The job search

I haven't given an update here lately. But the job search continues. Even though I keep myself busy, that doesn't mean I've forgotten about the larger goal. I'll be brief if I can. It's frustrating. I send out resumes and apply for jobs online each week. I find things that I am interested in (communications-related jobs) and should be qualified for, but am told that I either don't have enough experience (they want someone who's done that specific job before) or I have too much experience (they want to pay peanuts). And sometimes I don't receive calls back. It's hard but I'm trying to keep a positive attitude. That's half the battle. I know it will work out, I just need to keep the faith. So that's what I'm doing.

I've been so busy...

...I haven't had time to blog! That's not true. I have had some time, I've just chosen to spend that time doing other things. You'll understand once you read this post. I'm going to attempt to recap the past couple of weeks of my life. I've got photos. It'll be fun.

In addition to attending book club at Jaime's house and meeting friends for lunch or dinner (you know who you are), I also went to visit my friend, Sarah. She and her family were in the process of packing up and moving west to Garden City (they're gone now--sob, sob). I worked with Sarah at the Eagle and I know she will be missed there. I watched her husband, Aaron, pack some boxes while I ate yummy homemade enchiladas and then I helped Sarah make potato salad for a family party later in the day. I also oohed and aahed over five-month-old Sammy and got to know her other two boys a little better. Here's a picture of Sammy having a nap amongst the packing and potato salad making.

I've recovered nicely from my root canal. I got my permanent crown a little over a week ago and I was so ready to get rid of that stupid temporary. Don't even get me started! The same day I got my pretty, sparkly, new porcelain-covered gold (yes, I said gold) crown, I went to Exploration Place with Jenn and Bella. Bella showed me some of her favorite places at EP including the kitchen in the castle, where she busied herself arranging food on the plates. Then she and Jenn went to see the "Chirpie" movie while I went through the "Our Body: The Universe Within" exhibit. Real bodies and body parts. Skin removed. Sliced and diced so we could have a better view of the muscles, tendons, organs and bones. What could be more fun? Actually, I did enjoy it. I like stuff like that. If it's not gushing blood, it's fascinating to me. For some reason they didn't look like real bodies to me. But then I'd get closer to them and see the remnants of eyebrows or arm hair and then I'd remember. I'm not sure it was worth the price of admission, but it sure was packed that Monday afternoon.

I've also been cramming in doctor's appointments like mad. Last week I had three appointments and this week I have four days where I'm doing something at a doctor's office. One shot yesterday, one shot today, appointment on Thursday and blood draw on Friday. Doesn't that sound like a bunch of fun? Up next: scheduling the well woman exam. Priceless.

Mixed in with all the doctor's appointments I've been cleaning my house. I cleaned my bedroom and my guest bedroom from top to bottom last week. Dust bunnies, anyone? That included cleaning out every drawer in the rooms and going through the closets to organize/toss things. I also cleaned out the cabinets in my kitchen and laundry area. Some stuff I purged is now boxed and bound for Goodwill. The rest is boxed and on its way (via Ellinwood and Oakley) to Goodland. My niece, Anissa, just moved into an apartment there this past weekend so she'll have some hand-me-down things from me for her kitchen. She's starting school at the vo-tech this week. Poor thing got her wisdom teeth pulled last week and still can't eat solid foods. Luckily her mom and dad bought her lots of soup before they left her on Saturday. To the right is a picture of Anissa from our trip to the northwest in June. She eats lemons. Weird.

Last Wednesday the circus came to stay at my house. By the circus, I mean my mom, Terri, Zach, Jessica, Victoria and Kyle. That's six extra people in case you didn't count them. And three of them are teenagers. Oy! The first afternoon we did some back-to-school shopping for the teenagers. The Target trip alone crossed lots of things off the lists. My nieces found some clothes there as well as the notebooks and binders they were yearning for. Jessica will be a senior and Victoria will be a freshman. Kyle is going to be in the eighth grade. After we had shopped 'til we dropped we went out to see Steve, Jenn and Bella. We timed it perfectly and when we got there the boat was free, so we all hopped in (except mom, Terri and Zach) so the teenagers could go tubing. First we had to go to the other lake to get the tube. Here's a picture of Kyle, Bella, Victoria and Jessica in the back of the boat.

Jessica and Kyle tubed together first. Kyle hadn't ever gone tubing before, so Jenn told them how to let Steve know if they needed to go slower or wanted to go faster and how to tell him to stop (other than falling off). They did pretty well.

Then Jessica and Victoria went together. Combined they weigh about as much soaking wet as half of my body, so their size 1 and 3 selves bounced around a lot on the tube. I didn't feel too sorry for them.

Kyle went solo for a bit. He did much better when he was by himself, but I was lucky enough to get this shot on his last wipeout.

We came prepared to make supper at their house, so they fired up the grill and we dined on hot dogs, hamburgers and for dessert had some apple pie that Jennifer had baked. We all left stuffed and tired (Zach was up until almost 11 o'clock, which is a record for him).

The next day was a work day. Part of the reason they came to visit was to help me with some jobs around my house. Almost a month ago I got a bad allergic reaction after chopping out some overgrowth in my backyard. It looked really grisly for about two weeks, but got remarkably better after I went to the doctor for a cortisone shot. I know, I know: I should have gone sooner. Anyway, I've been hesitant to attack the overgrowth in the front for obvious reasons. While Victoria cleaned out my gutters (she loves doing it in case anyone has the need), Kyle mowed, Terri cleaned off my front porch and swept away all the cobwebs from the eaves of my house, and mom, Jessica and I weeded the front flower bed. After we got those things accomplished we worked on cleaning out my garage. It all looks so much better. I don't know what I would have done without them. We ate lunch about 1 o'clock and then people started dropping like flies. Terri and Zach slept in the recliner (above left). Kyle fell asleep in the guest bedroom (right). And Jessica chose to lay on the deflated air mattress in the dining room (below left). Victoria chose to lay on the couch (below right) and I headed straight for my bed. We just needed a little nap and then we did more shopping. Hooray!

Friday before they left, Jenn and Bella met us at the mall for one last shopping foray. Zach and Bella had fun riding the carousel. Bella chose a reindeer.

And for his first ride, Zach chose the scary pig with fangs. He loved it!

They both had fun playing on the police car, too.

I hope I haven't lost you in all the activity, blog readers. There's actually more, but I've got to go watch the Olympics now and I'll post the rest in another post. Yes, two posts in one week!

This is gonna be a long one

Since I haven't posted in forever I've got a lot of catching up to do. I decided some bullets would help me to separate things and help me be more concise (my sisters will appreciate that immensely). Here goes...

• A couple of weeks ago I got to spend an afternoon with some of my cousins on my mom's side of the family. The four girls that my mom's oldest sister had were in town from Dallas/Fort Worth, Colorado and Montana to see their dad in Salina and they all came to Ellinwood to see those of us who still live in Kansas (which is most of us). We spent the afternoon at my sister's house getting caught up on each other's lives and laughing over our childhood memories. There was also talk of our next reunion which will be two years from this month.
• I have been to Ellinwood several times this summer just to hang out or attend family functions. One of the trips was intended to participate somehow in the wheat harvests of both my brother-in-law and nephew and my uncle and cousin. Hours after I arrived, there was a torrential downpour and harvest was halted immediately. Neither operation started up cutting again until the day after I left to come back home. Wasn't meant to be, I guess. I think it was that same trip, I went to Caden's house (he's my great nephew in case you've forgotten) and stayed with him while his mom and dad went to see a movie ("Get Smart"). He slept through my visit and I listened to his breathing on the baby monitor, but I feel we still bonded. I played with Copper, the yellow lab, who stayed up late to make sure Andrew and Rachel got home safely and I vacated the premises. Apparently he doesn't like the way I play fetch.
• Met my friends Janette and Kathleen for one of our regularly scheduled girl's nights. We ate, we drank, we paid, we left. In between there was a lot of talking, but I'm not at liberty to discuss any of the topics in such a public forum.
• For the first time ever, I attended the quilt show at Century II. I met my friend Lori B. and her mother-in-law there and we looked at quilts and did some shopping at the vendor booths that were set up. It got me out of the house after a very rough week and I'm grateful to you, Lori, for calling and suggesting it.
  
• Book club was the last week of June at the home of Amy D. in Derby and I took my newly pedicured feet, a crockpot of my (now) famous cheese dip, a bag of tortilla chips, some longneck Bud Light Limes and carpooled with Suzanne, Tara and Deb. It was wonderful to see everyone. Two attendees I'd like to highlight are Jill who now lives in the Kansas City area and hasn't been to a meeting in ages and Kerri who is leaving us for the humidity of Houston. The food was wonderful and the company was even better. Unfortunately, there was another round of layoffs where I was formerly employed and some of the laid-off (welcome, Deb) were among us.
• I've been swimming with my friends who live on a lake out by Maize a couple of times. One of my new favorite things is floating on their lake watching Bella play in the sand or swim around me. One night when I was out there after Steve got home from work (work: what's that?) he grabbed his ski and we watched him get pulled behind the boat. Some of their neighbors did some trick skiing and others used the ski jump to delight us with their abilities.
  
• Joyce, one of my good college friends, lives in Colwich and I visited her and her family one afternoon. Her daughter, Gabrielle, had surgery in June to remove a bone cyst. She's had to be in a wheelchair for six weeks after the surgery, so it seemed easier for me to go to them. It was another afternoon spent chatting and getting caught up.
• Last week Terri and Zach came down for a visit. They were brought here and dropped off by my mom and niece Victoria on Wednesday. They spent one night and then my stick-in-the-mud brother, Mark, came down to get them on Thursday. I thought they were spending another night (so did Terri) but Mark didn't get that memo and they ended up going home even though I offered to buy him some new underwear. He told me to save my money. Zach is now walking on his own. He likes hiking his leg up quite high to get started and when I do that with him he laughs at me.
• With the quilt show as my catalyst and inspiration, I gathered up a project and went to Valley Center one afternoon and did some quilting with my friend, Sue, in her basement. We stitched and chatted and I am proud to say that the t-shirt quilt I started over five years ago is now finished! It's in the dryer as I type this and am planning on sleeping with it on my bed tonight. I'll take a picture and post it later. By the way, this is the first and only quilt I've made for myself. All the others I've made have been gifts.
  
• Went to see the movie "Wall-E" with Jennifer and Bella. It was good, but a little scary in some parts for three-year-old Bella.
  
• Attended a family reunion last Saturday in Lawrence. I hitched a ride with my dad's cousin, Carolyn, to save gas money. It was a good time seeing the descendants of my dad's maternal grandparents. I even squeezed in some time shopping (at a fabric store) on Massachusetts St. and dining at Free State Brewing Co. before the day was over and we headed back down the turnpike to Wichita.
• I've had lunch with lots of friends over the past month and a half: Linda, Heather, Christina, Melanie, Lori B. and Sue. I'm due for another round soon, ladies!

I know it sounds from this list as if I've just been running around a lot. To a certain degree, that's true. These are the kinds of things I wanted to do while I'm not working and I have the opportunity. It's important to me to reconnect with friends and spend some quality time with them and not just a fleeting telephone conversation here and there.

When not lunching or meeting with friends, I've had my nose in a book a good portion of the time. And that grass doesn't mow itself. I've got some beautiful flowers growing in my yard and in pots this year. I've been able to tend them so much more consistently with a pesky job to get in the way.

Do not despair, I've also been searching diligently for a job and have had a couple of interviews and sent out many resumes. I feel like I'm close to a job offer from one company, but I'll wait to hear so I don't jinx anything. So fingers and toes crossed, people!

On the agenda tomorrow: lunch with my friend Laurie and then a root canal. Aren't you jealous?

Graduation prep week

This past week has been busy, busy, busy. I left Wichita on Tuesday and came to Ellinwood where I helped my sister, Teresa, clean her house to get ready for her daughter Katie's graduation on Sunday. Teresa had back surgery about a month and a half ago and she can't bend yet, so since I'm laid off, I offered to come and help her get her house in order. She paid one of our nieces to do some of the rooms for her, so I only had three rooms to clean: living room, dining room and kitchen. I started on Wednesday and did the kitchen. Nothing much to report there except the smoke alarm went off a couple of times while the oven was self-cleaning.

After the kitchen was finished I had to go back to my mom and dad's house and stay with Zach while my mom went to an eye doctor appointment. We had a short nap and then played outside on the porch. He's getting really good at going up and down and up and down the porch steps. When I got to their house on Tuesday we were out on the porch and Zach attempted to go down the first step and went head over heels down the stairs instead. Since my mom covered her face in case there was blood, I went over and retrieved him. He didn't hurt himself at all and was just that much more determined to do it all by himself after that, although much more carefully.

Thursday I moved on to the living room and dining room at Teresa's. They are really just one huge room and it wasn't too bad, except Teresa and her husband have lots of things that have to be dusted. Like antique hurricane lamps and teapot collections. Just when I thought I was finished dusting hurricane lamps, I'd find more tucked away behind a cabinet that stores teapots. Doh! Luckily I didn't have to dust inside her seven china cabinets. Yes, seven! And they have two cats. One of which is white and his hair is all over the house. Had to empty the vacuum a couple of times before it was all swept.

Other than the hairball and broken toe (not really, but I did set the very large sofa down on my right foot) I got from cleaning there, everything went just great. The graduate herself even helped me do some of the heavy lifting.

Thursday after my dad got finished working my mom, dad and I left Ellinwood to drive to Oakley where my sister, Jenny, lives. On Friday we helped her get ready for her daughter Anissa's graduation on Saturday. Yes, that's two graduations. One weekend. Priceless.

Friday we all cleaned (except my brother-in-law who'd gone to work and my dad who conveniently disappeared when he wasn't napping). I did the front porch, the living room, part of the dining room and one of the bedrooms. Jenny has a slightly smaller house (and fewer things to dust) than Teresa, but it's very similar. Jenny has beautiful navy blue carpet that shows every single speck of dirt and it had to be vacuumed more than once.

In the afternoon, Jenny and mom finished up the grocery shopping and we prepared some goodies for the reception after graduation. Things like macaroni salad, potato salad and lime green punch. Anissa's class colors are lime green and black. Saturday morning we decided to go out and eat breakfast so we wouldn't mess up the house getting a big breakfast prepared. It was a good decision.

Are you as tired as I am just hearing how busy the week was? More on the graduations themselves in later posts.

Day one: Whatever I want to do

Since I left the Eagle (aka the Big Bird) for the last time as an employee on Friday, I've been really busy. Appropriately, I went to see the Broadway touring production of "Movin' Out" on Friday night at Century II. The dancing was amazing and the music was wonderful. In case you don't know it's all Billy Joel tunes with choreography done by Twyla Tharp. Both of my thumbs enthusiastically up. Thanks to my friend, Laurie, for letting me tag along with her. Before the show, we went to Old Chicago where I had two of these incredibly large beers.

Saturday morning I went to the Crown Uptown to see "Charlotte's Web" which is the current show for kids. I went with my friends Jennifer and Isabella. Bella is a huge fan of the newer movie version with real people and I'm a huge fan of the older animated version. We all enjoyed the buffet of yellow foods (applesauce, french fries, chicken nuggets, mac & cheese and hot dogs) and the show. The guy who played Wilbur was pretty funny. His snorting pig noises and dancing were hilarious. Bella took her stuffed Wilbur (who also makes pig noises) to the show. I think he enjoyed it as much as Bella enjoyed her pink smoothie. Notice that she has pigtails like Fern.

Saturday evening I went to Margarita's Cantina for dinner to celebrate the 50th birthday of my former co-worker, Holly. It seems so weird to think that I don't really have any co-workers anymore. For the first time in over 10 years I'm not on call. It's a very strange feeling. Not bad, just strange. I'm sorry, but I don't have any pictures from the evening. Not even of the two large margaritas I consumed. Probably best that way.

Yesterday I was a little sad about the job situation. Everything finally had a chance to sink in and I was just feeling a little sorry for myself. I just hung out at home, got caught up on the TiVo shows and did some yard work. Oh yeah, I had a nap, too. Last night I accepted an invitation to have dinner and watch a movie with some friends.

Today I woke up with a great feeling. I can do whatever I want to do today and all the other days until I find a new job. But there was one thing I had to do, which was go to a presentation at The Salvation Army. I am on one of the allocations panels for United Way and our first presentation was today.

Now I'm just getting caught up on blog entries, which is on my list of things to do now that I'm unemployed. Next up: finishing the yard work, re-potting a ficus tree, planting some flowers outside and cleaning the house in preparation for my special house guests who will arrive on Thursday.

Two days left

I'm not sure what I expected to feel after I got the news a week and a half ago that my position was being eliminated. I've only got two more days of work and it feels really strange. For ten years I've been working at the same place and that's twice as long as I'd been in any job prior.

Friday is going to be really hard. There are so many friends in the building that I'm going to miss a lot. I keep telling them it's not goodbye, but it's going to be strange. For me and for them.

I'm mentally making a list of things that I need to do while I'm looking for a job. Some of it is not very exciting at all, but I'm looking forward to getting some things done around my house. After Friday I'll start putting the list down on paper. You, my blog readers, will hear about the list in great detail. I will have more time to blog and will try to bolster the pathetic number of blog posts in recent months. My May is looking quite busy already, so I'll have lots of blog fodder. Stick with me and we'll take this wild ride together!

Let's call it a restructuring

When I got to work Monday morning I was called into an office. And that usually doesn't mean good news. It turns out that the Eagle is eliminating eight positions across the entire company and mine is one of them. After I got the news, I was given the option of going home for the rest of the day. I elected to go home, even though it was very hard for me to leave considering someone else was going to be stuck staying late working the shift that I was supposed to work. On top of that, there was a vendor working on one of the servers that hasn't come up since the power outage last week. Those of you who know me understand how hard it was for me to leave and let someone else deal with the responsibilities that were mine. But I knew I was going to cry and I didn't want to do it on the premises. So I left. I am happy to say that I got out of the building without shedding a single tear...but not very far down the street before the dam burst.

By the time I got home I was doing much better. The tears dried up and I decided to escape from everything for a while and I met some friends at the Sedgwick County Zoo to keep my mind off of work or lack thereof. I learned some things while I was there.

There's nothing like advice from a couple of three-year-olds to help me keep things in perspective. Hailey and Bella showed me how to keep on hanging in there, even when things get tough and I want to let go.

The giraffes taught me that it's OK to stick your neck out and try something new. This job elimination will open up new possibilities for me if I just have the courage to step out of my comfort zone.


This goose with the slightly off-kilter beak shared with me the finer points of begging for food, which might come in handy if a job doesn't materialize soon enough.

And the chimpanzees, well, they showed me some things that aren't fit to print. Trust me, they're things I'd never do and didn't even want to photograph.

I went back to work on Tuesday with a new attitude. So many people in the building have offered me their support. It's humbling, really, to have so many co-workers stop and ask how I am or tell me how much they'll miss me. I won't forget any of you and I take all of those wishes and those words of encouragement with me as I move into this next chapter of my life. Honestly, I'm optimistic about my future. I will have some time (thanks to a severance package) to re-charge my batteries while doing some jobs around my house. I really would like to step out of the technology field and get into something else. I'm not sure right at this moment what that is, but I'm positive that I'll know it when I find it. So after May 2nd, I'll be looking for my next adventure. Thanks to my friends at the zoo, I'll know just how to go about it.